This summer, algebra, equations, formulas and factors are coming to life for more than 300 students attending California State University, East Bay and Chevron’s Mathematics Achievement Academies.

The college pathway program for mathematics, aimed at strengthening algebra skills for underserved students in middle school and high school, are a joint program of Cal State East Bay, the Alameda County Office of Education, and ACCLAIM (Alameda County Collaborative for Learning and Instruction in Mathematics).

Much of the expansion came from greatly increased private support through the University of Possibilities campaign. Chevron Corp announced in May that it would support the academy program with a three-year, $1.5 million grant to sponsor up to 12 academies in 2010, expanding in 2011 and 2012 to include sections in Geometry and Algebra II.

The Mathematics Achievement Academies also received corporate support from AT&T, Bank of America, Union Bank of California, and Lam Research, as well as funding from the CSU Chancellor’s Office and school districts in Alameda County.

The 20 academy sections, held at schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, began instruction in late June, and will run for five weeks. Most are in traditionally underserved districts and in areas identified by supporters as key locations for outreach. The sites are:

Alameda Unified School District
Encinal High School, Alameda (two sections)

Each section has an instructor as well as college mentors, many of whom are current CSUEB students. Volunteers from Chevron are also serving as student advocates in the Chevron-sponsored sections. The student-teacher ratio is low to facilitate one-on-one attention, said Stan Hebert, associate vice president of Student Affairs, whose office coordinates the academies with CSUEB's partners.

The curriculum emphasizes new approaches to mathematics as well as practical, hands-on work. It’s also important to demonstrate how algebra and related concepts lead to college and careers, Hebert said, so the program includes field trips to see numbers in action. “Students are provided an opportunity to see mathematics in ‘real world’ applications,” he said.

This year, the students will visit Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland and Chevron’s Richmond Refinery. The final field trip will be a visit to CSUEB’s Hayward campus on July 23 for all students, instructors, supporters, and families.

Instructors were recruited through program partner ACCLAIM. The group focuses on supporting teachers of math at the K-12 levels, offering institutes and workshops to improve classroom effectiveness and maintain currency of math skills and teaching methods.

Since its founding in 2000, ACCLAIM has worked with more than 6,000 teachers in the region and beyond. ACCLAIM’s executive director, Phil Gonsalves, is the administrator for the Mathematics Achievement Academies, a mathematics lecturer at CSUEB and a mathematics coordinator at ACOE.

Following the summer sessions, the work will continue with assessment and evaluation, provided by Eric Suess, professor and department chair of statistics and biostatistics at CSUEB, as well as a co-director of ACCLAIM. “From the academic side, we’ll provide support by creating teacher-friendly reports to help the teachers analyze student achievement data and, working with Phil Gonsalves, focus on continuous improvement for students and helping teachers transform instruction,” he said.

The academy program was piloted in 2008 and 2009 as a way to help increase access to higher education for underserved students. Of students who complete Algebra and Geometry by the 10th grade, 80 percent go on to college. Over the next two years, as the academies expand through a three-year college preparatory sequence, students who continue through Algebra II will be prepared to pass the CSU’s Entry-Level Math exam, required for all incoming students.

Mathematics is also a key part of CSUEB’s initiative to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, to meet regional education and workforce needs.

California State University, East Bay is the San Francisco East Bay Area's high-access public university of choice. CSUEB serves the region with campuses in Hayward and Concord, a professional development center in Oakland, and an innovative online campus. With an enrollment of more than 14,000, the University offers a nationally recognized freshman year experience, award-winning curriculum, personalized instruction, and expert faculty. Students choose from among more than 100 professionally focused fields of study for which the University confers bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as an Ed.D. in education. Named a "Best in the West" college, as well as a Best Business School, by the influential Princeton Review, Cal State East Bay is among the region's foremost producers of teachers, business professionals and entrepreneurs, public administrators, health professionals, literary and performing artists, and science and math graduates.